Following Christian Horner’s departure, a lot has changed at Red Bull, including the relationship with McLaren – team boss Laurent Mekies reveals why this is the case
It is well known that McLaren boss Zak Brown and former Red Bull team boss Christian Horner are not friends. The two alpha males have provoked each other in the past, but hardly ever spoke to each other personally. That is now history.
Since Horner’s departure, the dynamic between McLaren and Red Bull has changed. With Laurent Mekies at the helm of the team, the relationship seems to have eased considerably. There have even been personal talks between Brown and the new Red Bull team boss recently, a first after two decades of silence.
“Competition on the track is one thing,” Mekies emphasizes. “Talking to each other to define a common position on the future of the sport, on key strategic decisions that we have to make as a sport, is something completely normal among competitors.”
“And as much as we may disagree on one thing or another, or simply defend our short-term or medium-term interests, we still have a very good relationship with Zak [Brown] and Andrea [Stella].” Words that Horner would probably never have uttered.
Mekies: “We have to put interests aside for a while”
But that also applies to other leading figures in the premier class. The relationship with Toto Wolff, Fred Vasseur, Mattia Binotto “and all the others” is also constructive, as Mekies assures us. “It’s a very good group.” The fact that he himself has worked at various levels within Formula 1 is likely to help build bridges.
“I think we’ve all spent enough time on the F1 Commission to develop an awareness that if we really want to contribute to the sport, we need to put our short- and medium-term interests aside a little bit to discuss with the FIA and Formula 1 how to move the sport forward.”
Mekies remains realistic, however, and emphasizes that it is not a question of putting one’s own interests on the back burner. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” says the Red Bull team boss. “We’re not hiding our interests, but we’re trying to take a constructive approach to dealing with them.”
